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What Is Data Management and Why Is It Important?

Every interaction, trend, and occurrence is data, in one form or another.

By Lucas H. ParkerPublished 2 years ago 5 min read
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What Is Data Management and Why Is It Important?
Photo by Stephen Dawson on Unsplash

Every interaction, trend, and occurrence is data, in one form or another. However, data, on its own, is merely a resource that you can either fully exploit or let go to waste. What determines this? While there are many approaches to this question, it’s undeniable that your data management efforts and policies are at the very top of determining factors.

Still, why is this so important, and what are some of the methods that you can use in order to improve the efficiency of your data management? This is not a simple question, and the answer is not simple either. What you need to do is invest in new software, embrace a new perspective on the subject matter, and develop new objectives. Here are some reasons why data management is important and how it can be improved upon.

Visibility

Just having access to data is not necessarily enough. In order to up the efficiency to a whole new level, it’s important that you have a method of finding the exact piece of data you need at that moment. This directly affects your productivity, seeing as how the difference between being able to find the exact piece of data in an instant and spending 20 minutes looking for it is astronomical. That is, with the presumption that you’ve actually found it.

One of the ways this visibility is increased is through an intelligent information management system. With the help of this system, you’ll get much better oversight of all your databases and be able to browse through the available data more efficiently. A regular database search is insufficient due to the fact that data comes in many different forms, and it’s usually optimized to help you access only the structured data.

Others choose to ignore data and go straight for the actionable information derived from it. This is often achieved through a business intelligence system. Keep in mind that while some data is invaluable, it’s probably more of raw material than a finished product. So, you need powerful software to process it.

To make the long story short, visibility of available data or actionable information deriving from it will require you to use specialized software. The choice of this software is a major choice that you need to make carefully.

Security

Another major aspect of data management is security, both internal and external. Everyone knows that information access in the majority of organizations is limited on a need-to-know basis. This is done for the sake of corporate security. With the right platform in place, every single user account will have its fair share of access.

Now, outsourcing solves a part of these issues. For instance, when it comes to the finances of your organization, outsourcing your accounting services means entrusting all the accounting-related data to specialists. These specialists have the latest security practices in place and a careful vetting process when it comes to their workforce. Sure, some see outsourcing as an additional security concern, but the partner is bound by a confidentiality agreement, which adds an extra layer of protection.

With proper data management, all your data will be protected from both external and internal threats. Sure, trusting your employees may be detrimental to your success in the business world, but taking an extra step of precaution will never backfire.

It’s also important that data management via a platform gives an extra layer of scalability to your security. This is because one’s onboarding and integration into the data system become as simple as it gets.

Data Governing

One more thing worth pointing out is that data governance is a collection of components, roles, processes, communications, metrics, and even tools in charge of your data assets. Yes, the data you have access to is an asset, one of the most important ones that your company has access to.

The benefits of efficient data governance are lower costs of data management, more accurate compliance activities, as well as more accurate procedures regarding regulations. For companies that handle sensitive data, this could be a saving grace and limit their liability, thus providing a no-small deal of legal protection.

Previously, we’ve said that data is an asset. Now, following this logic, it would be safe to assume that (like any other asset) it has its value. By properly governing your data, you will increase its value and even improve the overall enterprise revenue.

Keep in mind, however, that data management comes with costs of its own. Investing in experts, training, and adequate software is not easy. Still, for all those willing to get the most out of their available data, these investments are mandatory.

Marketing Efforts

Another thing you need to focus on is your marketing efforts. You need to gather as much data as possible in order to understand and profile your target audience. Regardless of what kind of marketing we’re talking about, there are some massive changes coming to the digital world, starting with the landscape of social media. You need to keep up with this as effectively as possible.

Analysis needs data (as fuel) in order to achieve any actionable results. In fact, data-driven marketing is essential to the growth of your online presence. First of all, it increases the accuracy of all your marketing efforts. Second, it helps you test the methods that you’re applying. Third, it helps you develop a much better understanding of your target audience.

In marketing, it’s all about consistency. However, online trends and behaviors are fluid. In order to ensure this monitoring continuity, it’s essential that you improve your data management mechanisms. It is essential that you establish what’s working and what’s failing to give the desired results. Once you achieve this, your messaging will become far more consistent.

In the end, it is important to understand that your data systems are of benefit to all your departments. Therefore, when it comes to improved data system integrations, it might be beneficial to invite representatives of all these departments for consultation.

In Conclusion

Overall, data management is incredibly important, seeing as how it determines the security, reputation, and efficiency of your enterprise. This is why resolving this issue is the first priority, and any investment towards this goal is justified. The question is never whether it’s worth it. It’s how far you’re willing to go in order to achieve it and how hard you’re going to commit to this objective. This is for every organization to decide on its own. With the above-listed arguments and solutions, the answer should be pretty clear.

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About the Creator

Lucas H. Parker

Lucas is a business consultant from Minneapolis, Minnesota. Besides that, he has a passion for writing. Doing his research, exploring, and writing are his favorite things to do.

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